Hades II announced at the 2022 Game Awards

Posted on December 9, 2022 by John Scalzo

Hades set the Game Awards ablaze in 2018 with its original World Premiere trailer. It launched in Early Access later that night, further engulfing fans (and critics) in its epic tale of the Olympians and the Underworld. The roguelike’s hot stream continued into 2020 when it exited Early Access in September and then took home two statuettes (“Best Indie Game” and “Best Action Game”) at the Game Awards two months after that.

So what can developer Supergiant Games do for an encore? How about announce Hades II at the 2022 Game Awards with another magical World Premiere trailer.

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EA is working on three Star Wars games including Star Wars Jedi 2, an FPS, and a strategy game

Posted on January 25, 2022 by John Scalzo

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda calmly tells Obi-Wan that there is another when he refers to Luke as their “last hope.” Electric Arts took this line to heart yesterday when they announced three additional Star Wars games in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment.

Star Wars Jedi 2 will be a sequel to Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and it is currently in development under the stewardship of Game Director Stig Asmussen. It’ll be joined in-house by an untitled Star Wars FPS, which will be overseen by Game Director Peter Hirschmann.

Finally, Respawn will partner with Bit Reactor and Greg Foerstch, the Art Director of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2, to produce a new strategy game set within the Star Wars universe.

“We are excited to continue working with the superbly talented developers at Respawn,” said Douglas Reilly, the Vice President of Lucasfilm Games. “They have demonstrated excellence in telling epic Star Wars stories along with best-in-class gameplay across different genres and we are looking forward to bringing more amazing experiences to the galaxy far, far away.”

All three games are currently in development, but EA has yet to announce a release date or platforms for any of the titles.

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Crowdfund This (January 2022): It’s Kooky, Orbital Cargo Division, Furquest, A Glider’s Story, and Wekufu

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Andrew Rainnie - UK Correspondent

Hello, I’m Andrew Rainnie and welcome to Crowdfund This, where I’ll be looking at some of the best video gaming crowdfunding projects currently looking for pledges.

This time I’ll be highlighting the beautiful, hand-drawn Its Kooky; humorous pixel art sci-fi adventure game Orbital Cargo Division; cute RPG Furquest; relaxing exploration game A Glider’s Story; and last (but not least), the dark, hand-drawn 2D hack-and-slash platformer Wekufu.

Until next time.

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Insomniac is working on Marvel’s Wolverine exclusively for the PS5

Posted on September 9, 2021 by John Scalzo

Even before it’s official unveiling, we sort of knew that Insomniac was hard at work on Spider-Man 2, but the developer also added another superhero title to their portfolio of upcoming games during today’s PlayStation Showcase.

Logan, everyone’s favorite rage-filled Canadian, will star in the appropriately-named Wolverine, which is currently in development exclusively for the PS5. There’s no release date as of yet, but Ryan Schneider, Insomniac’s Head of Franchise Strategy, had a lot to say about it on the PlayStation Blog:

So many of the Insomniac team are such huge fans of the character, and one of the key elements that drew us to him is surprisingly not that different from Spider-Man: Both heroes feel deeply compelled to defend people who are less able to do so.

Marvel’s Wolverine is a standalone game being directed by Brian Horton (creative director) and Cameron Christian (game director), who recently led the creative efforts on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a game we’re extremely proud of at Insomniac. In the vein of our Spider-Man games, our goal here is to not only respect the DNA of what makes the character so popular, but also look for opportunities to make it feel fresh and truly reflect the Insomniac spirit. Even though Marvel’s Wolverine is very early in development, from what I’ve seen of its emotional narrative and cutting-edge gameplay (see what I did there?), the team is already creating something truly special.

You can find a short teaser trailer for Wolverine, which is eerily reminiscent of the first X-Men movie, after the break.

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“Updated and Enhanced” version of Quake is now available for PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Posted on August 19, 2021 by John Scalzo

For as popular as it was throughout the 1990s, id Software’s Quake never received the universal re-release push that Doom did. Sure, it popped up on the Saturn and the Nintendo 64 back in the day, but it’s been unavailable to current console players for the last 20 years.

That all changes today as Bethesda announced during the QuakeCon at Home kickoff that Quake is now available to download in a new “Updated and Enhanced” version for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Xbox Game Pass users on console and PC will also be able to download the influential shooter through their subscription. And if you already own Quake through Steam or Bethesda.net, you’ll receive the update for free.

The “Updated and Enhanced” version of Quake will provide players with widescreen resolution support (up to 4K), enhanced models, dynamic and color lightning, anti-aliasing, depth of field, and the complete soundtrack and theme song (which was composed by Trent Reznor). This package will also include Quake’s three expansions (The Scourge of Armagon, Dissolution of Eternity, and MachineGames’s Dimension of the Past), as well as a brand new episode, Dimension of the Machine, also created by MachineGames.

It wouldn’t be Quake without multiplayer deathmatch (and co-op), so players can also expect to find four-player online or local co-op, as well as eight-player (online) or four-player (local splitscreen) deathmatches, and cross-play between all platforms.

A physical edition of Quake for the PS4 and Switch will be available to pre-order through Limited Run Games beginning on Friday, August 27, at 10:00 AM (Eastern Time). The game will be sold as a Standard Edition ($29.99), Deluxe Edition ($79.99, with a Steelbook case, poster, keychain, and commemorative box), and Ultimate Edition ($174.99, with a shirt, a Quad Damage statue, a Shambler figure, a Nail Gun Ammo box, everything from the Deluxe Edition, and more).

And finally, a free PS5 and Xbox Series X|S upgrade will available “soon” to give console players native 4K resolutions at 120 FPS. A trailer for the “Updated and Enhanced” version of Quake can be found after the break.

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First Gameplay Trailer for Evil Dead: The Game is narrated by Bruce Campbell

Posted on June 10, 2021 by John Scalzo

Listen up you primitive screwheads, Bruce Campbell is here to narrate the first Gameplay Trailer for Evil Dead: The Game. And he’s bringing some new friends with him to fight the Deadites.

The previous trailer gave us a good look at Campbell’s Ash, as well as Kelly (played by Dana DeLorenzo), Arthur, and Scotty, but this new trailer fills out the gory co-op game’s roster even further. Fellow Ghostbeater Pablo (played by Ray Santiago) joins the fray, as does Cheryl Williams, Henry the Red, and Ash Vs Evil Dead‘s Amanda Fisher. And while it’s not technically a character, we’re also reintroduced to Ash’s Delta (and yes, you can drive it).

Ash and his friends will need to collect tapes left by Professor Knowby and obtain other artifacts from the franchise before they can attempt a spell to banish the Deadites from the world. But players on the other side of this PvP game will get to control monstrous entities like Evil Ash, Eligos, and the Kandarian Demon (the unseen “Force” from the earlier films) in their quest to swallow your soul.

Evil Dead: The Game is currently in development at Saber Interactive, and it’ll launch later this year for the PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

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Tribute Games will bring back classic TMNT team with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

Posted on March 10, 2021 by John Scalzo

The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon went off the air more than two decades ago, but the characters never really went away thanks to multiple new adaptations over the years. But you can’t keep a good turtle down, and the TMNT team from the 1987-1996 series is coming back in a new game from Dotemu and Tribute Games.

Dotemu is rather well known as the publisher who resurrected the Streets of Rage franchise last year, while Tribute Games has spent the last decade cranking out retro tributes like Mercenary Kings, Flinthook, and Panzer Paladin.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge will play to both their strengths as a side-scrolling beat ’em up with a look and feel that was heavily inspired by Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game and Turtles in Time:

With Bebop and Rocksteady amassing gizmos to support Krang and Shredder’s latest scheme, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge finds the turtles battling through a breathless tour of iconic TMNT locations to thwart their nemeses’ most diabolical plan yet. Armed with shell-shocking new abilities built on a foundation of classic brawling mechanics, the gang are in for an exhilarating, Foot Clan-stomping romp leading them through the sewers and bustling boroughs of New York City all the way to Dimension X.

We don’t know when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge will be released, but we do know that it’s coming to PC and consoles. In the meantime, the first trailer for the game, complete with a new rendition of the TMNT theme performed by Mike Patton of Faith No More, has been embedded above.

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Nintendo will release Splatoon 3 in 2022

Posted on February 17, 2021 by John Scalzo

Believe it or not, the last full-sized Nintendo Direct broadcast from the consolemaker was presented nearly 18 months ago, on September the 4th of 2019. But while today’s Direct had a rather limited scope (focusing solely on titles scheduled for released in the first half of 2021), Nintendo had one big surprise up their sleeve…

Splatoon 3 is coming in 2022!

The third game in the ink-splattered shooter series will build on the first two games with a new central location (the industrial-looking Splatsville), new weapons, new stages, new maneuvers, and new styles.

Enter the Splatlands, a sun-scorched desert inhabited by battle-hardened Inklings and Octolings. Splatsville, the city of chaos, is the adrenaline-fueled heart of this dusty wasteland.

Even in this desolate environment, Turf War reigns supreme and battles rage in new stages located in the surrounding wilds.

Dynamic new moves help these fighters dodge attacks and cover more ground, along with a new bow-shaped weapon to sling ink.

It’ll be a long wait, but for now, the first trailer for Splatoon 3 has been embedded above.

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